The New York Times reports that Wake Forest and Smith College no longer requires prospective students to take the SAT. They are not alone.
This is not a new debate, of course, but nevertheless I'm going to toss in my 2 cents. Whatever else the SAT and ACT may be, money plays a large part of the game. Applicants have to pay to take the exams, and pay to have the scores forwarded to the schools. Test Prep Company and its competitors make a lot of money on the test as well. So wherever the SAT may be headed, it's not going to vanish without a fight. (Not convinced? Consider also the 2005 revision of the exam, which were arguably due to the University of California's decision to stop using the SAT in its application process unless the exam underwent a major overhaul. UC attracts a lot of applicants, which means a lot of test takers and a lot of money.)
My position? I'm currently making money off of the system, but I hope not to have to do so for very long, and I wouldn't mind seeing this exam cast aside. Since it is a money game, since affluent parents can afford test prep programs and aids, I'm not sure how students' exam results can fail to reflect their SES. And really, is SES the criteria by which we should be basing entrance to higher education?
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UC Berkeley has not used the SAT as an admission criterion for well over a decade now. How do you think I got in with a score of 1000? (I wish this were a joke. Then again, it doesn't really matter now does it?)
It's even worse that you might realize - the top score is now 2400.
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